Please use this thread for alerting admins to moderation issues and for discussion or complaints arising from particular decisions.
The Skeptical Zone
"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken."
Please use this thread for alerting admins to moderation issues and for discussion or complaints arising from particular decisions.
I’m betting that Lizzie will return before Jesus.
And a LPT from one guy to another: My wife and daughters assure me that women generally don’t consider “fuzzy” to be a compliment.
Wow, really? Who’da thunk that. Me not complimenting that confused music-architecture-cogsci-apostate self-whirlpool of (gotta deny that too!) nihilism Elizabeth Liddle for THIS site? What a surprise! (Ah, you moderate, and thus expect compliments … and impoverished ‘skeptic’ respect.) Quick tip: most men don’t consider ‘fuzzy’ to be a compliment either, if you’re busy misinterpreting intentionally. 😉 It wasn’t meant as a compliment for the ‘fuzzy logic’ of the person who built this wretched dehumanising site (sociologists watch both objectively and subjectively, in this case, learning to protect against ‘skeptic’ dehumanisation).
Please tell your wife and daughters, who you brought into the conversation, that despite what their husband and father says: “the [intentionally] empty spiritual life is not worth living”. What it feels like to escape from a materialistic (or even just naturalistic) ideological prison is not something you can know about unless you’ve done it. Perhaps someone you know could imagine that feeling.
Time to flip the atheist switch? Grow a heart, etc.
Gregory,
A more shining example of the spiritual joys attendant on escape from this ideological prison, one would be hard pressed to find.
Dump the dehumanising, uninspiring worldview ‘skepticism,’ Allan Miller, and you’d likely also see the other side, the joys of which you have blocked out of possible experience ‘strictly ideologically.’ It’s really not that difficult for most ‘normal’ human beings around the world to understand this, no matter what age from young adult onwards! Suction-souled adult USAmericans are a sociological phenomenon extraordinaire in ‘western’ social history, with shadows of the ‘decade of ME’ still over-hanging. This site is a hoot of hollow thought (starting with your favourite TSZ disenchanting & self-admitted disenchanted philosopher), in far too many ways! 😉
Gregory, I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re a really nice person, never shy from extending goodwill or the gesture of a hand of friendship. And you’d always much rather look for the best in people rather than the worst, and you go out of your way to tell people what you like about them rather than what you dislike.
Just kidding of course. Your every post reeks of the contempt you feel for us. Rest assured that, due to how you behave and the way you post about us, the feeling is mutual.
I forgot there was a reason I blocked that person. The hidden anger is obvious given what it recently wrote, which was more a threat at me (and of course, I had not addressed it in the message) than an ideologically upset atheist whimper now. Put the sweetest sugar niceties & lipstick thick on that worldview of despair and pump it up as ‘friendlier-than-the-theist communication’. No surprise that ‘normal’ people who don’t suffer from anti-religious paranoia find that worldview both numbing of soul & culturally distasteful.
Gregory, why don’t you tell us how you really feel? Every sentense has that strange quality of being muffled. There’s more in there, just open up and be honest. Give us all you’ve got, no reason to hold back.
Allan:
The Freedom from Religion Foundation should hire Gregory as a spokesman — for Christianity.
You can put the smelling salts away, folks. Alan is on the job again, protecting you from the word ‘doofus’.
Thank God for him.
Well, its a good thing you are an atheist Keiths.
Right over phoodoo’s head.
phoodoo writes:
First, please keep discussion of moderation issues in this thread.
Second, what is your problem?
Seriously, Patrick. You don’t have to try to trump FMM. He is in a league of his own. His trash is enough to ruin any thread. You don’t have to reinforce it and add to it.
I want to go on record as saying that I think Patrick is being unfair to FMM.
Everyone here knows that FMM’s peculiar version of presuppositionalism logically requires him to say that everyone believes in God, whether they know it or not.
If FMM were better at written communication, he could say, “it is my belief that you believe in God, even though you don’t believe that you do.” And that would be both a sincere expression of FMM’s position and also would not get into any trouble with The Rules.
Unfortunately, FMM is not good enough at written communication to express himself with that degree of clarity. But it’s unfair for him to be punished just because he’s not good at expressing himself, especially when everyone here already knows what he thinks.
That is a very generous interpretation.
He’s not willing to believe a person who disagrees with his unsupported bullshit beliefs. That’s clearly not meeting the criterion of meeting such a person on the level of good faith.
Whether or not such egregious BS is something to be allowed is another question. Obviously some like disagreeing with him, even though I’m less and less inclined to do so, but those who like arguing with him might prefer letting his BS get by for the sake of having a chew toy.
Glen Davidson
He enjoys bullying FMM, just as he did bullying you.
FMM’s claim that everyone believes in God is, because it’s based on meanings of various terms that nobody else shares, pointlessly obfuscating. But it’s not bullying, as patrick’s posts are. FMM is silly; Patrick is a shmuck.
I have no firm convictions about Patrick’s suitability for moderator, but I agree with Walto on this specific point. FMM thinks that everyone believes in God because he insists on using words in ways that no one else here does. That’s annoying but it’s not a violation of The Rules.
I agree the fmm and Patrick are not equivalent.However given that people have endlessly pointed out the ridiculousness of claiming he knows better than you do what you believe, it is pretty schmucky behavior as well.
Since Patrick only warned fifth it seems that he agrees it is only a “venial sin”. Again ,no matter how you idiosyncratically you use words if you are fully aware after numerous discussions of how the vast majority of the English speaking world perceives the meaning of your statement, it seems reasonable to assume the annoyance is intentional.
I agree that it’s childish and annoying, if that helps.
Luckily for me, childish and annoying are in my wheelhouse.
Is that yours? I’m right next door in the confused and annoying wheelhouse!
Here’s what John and FMM wrote:
John stated that he is “not mocking and scorning god”. While I consider both of FMM’s clauses to be violations of the good faith rule, it is the first that I consider more egregious. FMM is claiming that John is lying about his intention. He provides neither evidence nor reason to support that insult. It is a gross violation of the rules.
Further, although I agree with you that FMM is poor at communicating, I don’t think he is unable to clarify his meaning. Rather, I think he is incapable of understanding that his beliefs are just his beliefs. His childhood indoctrination has damaged him severely. While sad, that is no excuse for allowing him to abuse others.
I’ve been pretty lax about Guano’ing comments lately. I’ve reached out to Lizzie and asked her to share her intentions for the site going forward. In the meantime, I think a very light touch is the best option. I warned FFM in this case because I think the rule about assuming good faith, at least until there is reason not to, is a good one. I don’t want quality participants like John dissuaded from commenting because of unwarranted, irrational abuse from someone like FFM.
I sincerely appreciate you raising your concerns.
Here’s the full context of what John wrote, where he makes his meaning quite explicit:
FFM clearly violated the rule about assuming good faith.
SIWOTI complex. I admit that it is a character flaw. I need to meditate more.
And post less. Just stick to guanoing and notifications about it.
Thank you for your suggestions. I will give them all the weight I feel they are due based on your contributions here.
You noticed that everybody of any weight here harbors outright disdain for you, based on your worth, which happens to consist of character flaws. You can keep ignoring it, but it won’t go away as long as you display your character flaws. My suggestion is sincere, practical and workable for you. When you don’t post, it’s as if you were normal, much better.
Hahaha.
You think of yourself as having weight? How cute.
Are insults worthy of the character of a mod? Is littering of threads and bullying worthy of the character of a mod?
These are rhetorical questions. If you answer that these things are not against the rules, you are simply proving the point that you enjoy ruining and disrupting the atmosphere of the site and you lead others by example to do the same.
Someone with an appropriate character would not be facing such questions. The only good thing to say about you is that you are consistent. Consistently failing, that is.
I’m writing as a participant, not as an admin. That you would be unable to separate the two roles is a reflection of your character.
So all the ghastly bastardliness that you do here, you do as a non-admin, and that’s okay because you are, in your own mind, able to separate those roles. How cute.
Well, at least you proved my point, so I should not be too disappointed.
Why, thank you, Erik.
I’ve been working out.
🙂
I have quite a bit to spare. Free to good home.
According to my parents’ marriage license and my birth certificate, I came into the world at least a few months after they tied the knot. Be that as it may, I appreciate a good assonance as much as the next guy. “Ghastly bastard” I can own.
And yes, it’s easy to separate the roles unless one is an authoritarian.
“Unlike others, I just am not susceptible to conflicts of interest. Better person, I guess.”
Great stuff, patrick. Says a lot about your character. As we can see, “non-authoritarians” (hahaha) believe that conflicts of interest only affect lesser mortals. Never holy libertarians who can just…..rise above. Nice.
walto, if Patrick ever rises above being an ass let me know.
Mung, I’m in the bar of the Westin right now. Stop by. If you can’t find me, I’ll be the one your girlfriend is checking out when she thinks you’re not looking.
walto, if Patrick ever admits to rising above being an ass let me know.
“Dear, did you see the drunk, homeless guy masturbating with a whip cream can under the tables at the Westin tonight? I really tried not to look, but the way he kept slamming that orange Trump doll into the chocolate fountain was so annoying.
And the smell…”
Wow.
That’s incredible.
Mung, dude, you really suck at this male bonding thing.
Do you have any male friends, KN?
He is not your pimp.
Find your own playmates.
See, Mung? Even phoodoo gets it. That’s a pretty low bar to clear.
Patrick:
Mung,
If Patrick is as good looking as he says, you’re missing out on some hot “male bonding” tonight.
You can always repent in the morning, like a televangelist or a Republican congressman.